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Success for Loughborough University employment placement scheme

Loughborough University is working with local charity The Exaireo Trust to provide unemployed people with work placements on campus.

The Exaireo Trust is a local charity that helps homeless people rehabilitate by providing them with accommodation, education, skills, advice and support.

As part of their Ethos Project, they run a scheme to help people find their feet by getting them back into work. The University has supported this over the past two years and have provided a number of opportunities on campus. Matt Kelly is currently on placement at a catered hall of residence.

Matt is working at Towers Hall on campus in the kitchenette where he prepares anything from cooked breakfasts to tasty desserts for students, conferences and even for sports teams.

Following previous experience working at a cafe in Devon, Matt was keen to pursue a career in the catering field again.

He is now nearing the end of his seven week placement and hopes to secure a full time job in catering.

Matt said: “I love my job and I’m really grateful to have been given the opportunity. Every day, I can’t wait to get there and quite often I’ll just go into work an hour early because that’s where I’d rather be.

“Everyone at the University was really welcoming from the minute I started and I’m pleased I’m back into work.”

Simon Willet, who works at The Exaireo Trust, said: “We’re delighted with how the placements at Loughborough University have worked, they’ve all been a success with a great level of commitment on both sides.

“It’s fantastic to be working with the University, they genuinely want to see people move forward and progress. Hearing that Matt can’t wait to get to work every day is exactly the kind of response we hope to get from this scheme and we’re grateful to Loughborough University for supporting us.”

Another member of the Exaireo Trust who completed a placement with the University’s Garden and Grounds Team also went on to secure a full time job with the University last year.

Organiser of the placement scheme this year, Sarah Haar, said: “We’re delighted that the University has built up such a strong relationship with The Exaireo Trust and have managed to provide some really successful placements for people looking to get back into work. Moving forward, we’d love to be able to provide work placements for even more people across different departments.”